Random Debut League

[David Watts]

My Random Debut League. League began play in 1978 and will use 1978 as its base year for the time being, or maybe forever. Depends on if I get bored playing the same year over and over. If I do, I will probably use random years from 78-85 as my base. But, for now it's always 1978

American League

Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Toronto Blue Jays

National League

Chicago Cubs
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
St. Louis Cardinals

I usually don't use real teams in my random debut leagues, but Garlon's uniform mod makes doing so a must.

The top three teams in each subleague make the post season. Each 1st place finisher earns a 1st round bye. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers meet in a best of three series, with all games played in the 2nd place finishers ballpark. The winner meets the 1st place finisher in a best of seven League Championship Series. The World Series is also a best of seven.

I'm using reserve rosters instead of minors. Reserve rosters are unlimited. Draft is set for 5 rounds with enough players created for 6 rounds. Free Agency is turned on.

162 game schedule, so each team play each team 18 times. To spice things up, I had OOTP create random ballparks for each team. I usually go with the neutral parks, but I've grown bored with that as of late.

Rotations are set to 5, using strict, occasionally start the highest rested. Bullpens are 6 man in NL and 5 man in AL So, yes the AL has the DH. The NL doesn't. I switched the setting for "use of closers" from sometimes to often. All other setting are default.

I have injuries set to normal and player fatigue set to high.

I'm using 1 year recalc with the OOTP Player Development turned on as well. TCR is 100.

I'm trying something new with this league. I'm using Real Time Sim a lot in an effort to get through more seasons and create a long running league. My plan right now is to use RTS each season from April through August and then watch September play out live. I'm currently playing September 1979. I'm watching the games of all the contenders daily. So far, I'm liking this method of play, so I hope it's the new normal. Fingers crossed.

1978
The Boston Red Sox led by Brett Butler, Paul Molitor, Rob Deer and a very young Lou Whitaker won the 1978 World Series. The Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 4 games to 3 to become the leagues first champion.

One thing that stood about the 78 post season was the lunacy displayed by the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto finished the season tied with New York for 3rd place. The teams played game 163 to determine which team would face the Cleveland Indians in the Wildcard Round. Toronto led by league MVP Stan Musial won the game and were off to face the Indians. This is when things started getting strange. The Toronto manager was his normal self for game one, starting Bob Buhl on the mound. Then all hell broke loose. In game 2, instead of starting a starting pitcher the Jays trotted out Rich Hand. Hand lasted all of 2 innings and parade of relievers began. Ugh! Why. I even checked if by some odd chance I had mistakenly activated that idiotic opener/follower feature somehow. Nope it's set to never. The Jays lost. So off the game 3. I'm happy to see 16-10 Mark Mulder is slated to start game 3. It lt appears the Jay's manager came to his senses. WRONG> Game 3 begins and a relief pitcher is on the mound to start the game. This pitcher lasts roughly 3 innings and then Mulder is brought in, followed by Bob Buhl. The Jays lose the series. To make matters worse, they let AL MVP Stan Musial walk in free agency and find themselves in the bottom half as 1979 winds down. I really hope I don't see this type of lunacy occur all that often. I stay away from the modern game for so many reasons I can't list them and really don' want to see it bleed into baseball utopia. Yeah, I know get offa my lawn!!!

September 1979
The Cincinnati Reds stole Stan the Man away from the Toronto Blue Jays, plucking him off the free agent market. The Reds inserted Musial into the number 3 slot in their order, right above Mike Schmidt and Michael Conforto. 6 days into September all three of these cats have 100+ RBI for the season. So yes the Reds are scoring runs. The Reds have already locked down a spot in the post season, now it's just a matter of which one. They sit atop the AL, but last years champion Boston is within striking distance. The Red Sox have to be wondering where last years Rob Deer is hiding. Deer received a few votes for league MVP, hitting for power, driving in runs along with a respectable batting average. 79 has him struggling to stay above the .200 mark. Worse yet, the power has disappeared almost completely. Last years cleanup hitter now finds himself hitting 8th in the order and the cheers of last year have turned to jeers. Things fall off considerably from 2nd place to 3rd place. As of now the Philadelphia Phillies sit in 3rd place, but wow have they hit a cold stretch. Each day they inch closer and closer to the .500 mark and in doing so they inch closer to losing their hold on their postseason spot to cross state rival, Pittsburgh.

The St. Louis Cardinals sit atop the National League, followed by the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. The Minnesota Twins need a hot streak to get back in the race, but it's not impossible for them to get there. The NL looks like it will go right down to the wire.

[italyprof]

1978 was a good year.

[actionjackson]

Your honour I object, and demand that the Reds return Stan the Man to my Blue Jays immediately. I demand that that GM be escorted from the stadium by security for being a complete MORON!!! I mean, imagine if a young Eugene Church had been a Blue Jays fan in this universe. He'd have been crushed!!! What about the children?!!! Also, please fire that manager before he completely erodes the fanbase!!!

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by italyprof

1978 was a good year.

Yep. I was 8. Road hockey and ice hockey in the winter, baseball and tennis in the summer. Collecting tons of baseball and hockey cards. The next year (or maybe the year after) there were a few Gretzky rookie cards in my collection. Many years later, ma threw them out in a household cleaning purge. Why ma? Why? Girls were still icky. Life was much simpler then.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Your honour I object, and demand that the Reds return Stan the Man to my Blue Jays immediately. I demand that that GM be escorted from the stadium by security for being a complete MORON!!! I mean, imagine if a young Eugene Church had been a Blue Jays fan in this universe. He'd have been crushed!!! What about the children?!!! Also, please fire that manager before he completely erodes the fanbase!!!

Isn't it funny how whenever you start a random, it always seems like the leagues biggest star is a free agent following the first season? I had a strange feeling all of 78 that Toronto and Stan the Man wouldn't have a long courtship. Sad thing in this league is the fact that Mickey Mantle imported at the tail end of his career. The Mick is now 37 years old. He played the 78 season with the Houston Astros putting up pretty solid numbers, especially in regards to OBP. He signed with the Yankee for the 79 season, but his numbers have declined quite a bit. I will be interested to see if he comes back for 1980.

I finally got a young Greg Maddux in this league. Greg is 24 or 25 years old. He's sitting at something 18-4 or 17-4 for the 79 season. What's really strange is, his ERA is not stellar at all, 3.86. I usually get a 34+ Maddux in my leagues, so I'm going to enjoy having a young one for a change.

I've came to the conclusion that someone tied to OOTP is a huge Paul Molitor fan. I think I could start 30 leagues a day and everyone would feature a young Paul Molitor. This has been true with 21 and was true for 20 as well. Reggie Smith is another guy that shows up in a lot of my leagues.

[David Watts]

I will be really interested to see what the season high for home runs ends up being in this league over time. The NL didn't even sport a 30 home run guy for 1978. The AL leader came in at roughly 31 or 32. How many seasons will I play before I get a 40 home run guy? Will I ever get one?

Now doubles is a whole different matter. A young superstar cat named Fred Lynn set the bar extremely high when it comes to two baggers with 59 in 1978.

[David Watts]

At work observation #3001. If I was a big league player playing in a OOTP random debut universe, the last thing I would want to be is a closer. Have you ever noticed how volatile being a fireman is in random debut land? Lee Smith is the perfect example. Dude was lights out in 1978 for the Boston Red Sox. The Sox win the World Series with Smith playing a huge part. 79 roles around, Smith is now a the setup man for Trevor Rosenthal. I once tried to sell a pair a sandals to Lee Smith and his entourage of women, and I have to guess it wouldn't be fun to tell him ...."by the way, you're not our closer this year." "it's not you.....it's me"

[Beirnej1]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Isn't it funny how whenever you start a random, it always seems like the leagues biggest star is a free agent following the first season? I had a strange feeling all of 78 that Toronto and Stan the Man wouldn't have a long courtship. Sad thing in this league is the fact that Mickey Mantle imported at the tail end of his career. The Mick is now 37 years old. He played the 78 season with the Houston Astros putting up pretty solid numbers, especially in regards to OBP. He signed with the Yankee for the 79 season, but his numbers have declined quite a bit. I will be interested to see if he comes back for 1980.

I finally got a young Greg Maddux in this league. Greg is 24 or 25 years old. He's sitting at something 18-4 or 17-4 for the 79 season. What's really strange is, his ERA is not stellar at all, 3.86. I usually get a 34+ Maddux in my leagues, so I'm going to enjoy having a young one for a change.

I've came to the conclusion that someone tied to OOTP is a huge Paul Molitor fan. I think I could start 30 leagues a day and everyone would feature a young Paul Molitor. This has been true with 21 and was true for 20 as well. Reggie Smith is another guy that shows up in a lot of my leagues.

So true about Paul Molitor and Reggie Smith. Seems like every league I have tried creating in 21 has had both of them in the inaugural pool.

[Reed]

Just curious how you like your playoff setup. Do you think it makes the season more interesting to see who gets the first round bye, which wild card team gets home field advantage, and can a team team that played a so so first half of the season get hot and make the playoffs?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Reed

Just curious how you like your playoff setup. Do you think it makes the season more interesting to see who gets the first round bye, which wild card team gets home field advantage, and can a team team that played a so so first half of the season get hot and make the playoffs?

I really like this playoff format. I want there to be races right to the very end of the season. I like this format because the second place team pays a price for not coming in first. The three game Wildcard series forces them to tax their rotation and their bullpen heading into a series against a 1st place team that has their ace primed and ready. At the same time, having all three games in the 2nd place teams park, I think is a huge reward and makes it very tough for a bad 3rd place team to pull off an upset. In real life, I'm more of a traditionalist in terms of playoffs, but with OOTP, it's all about upping the excitement level.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Isn't it funny how whenever you start a random, it always seems like the leagues biggest star is a free agent following the first season? I had a strange feeling all of 78 that Toronto and Stan the Man wouldn't have a long courtship. Sad thing in this league is the fact that Mickey Mantle imported at the tail end of his career. The Mick is now 37 years old. He played the 78 season with the Houston Astros putting up pretty solid numbers, especially in regards to OBP. He signed with the Yankee for the 79 season, but his numbers have declined quite a bit. I will be interested to see if he comes back for 1980.

I finally got a young Greg Maddux in this league. Greg is 24 or 25 years old. He's sitting at something 18-4 or 17-4 for the 79 season. What's really strange is, his ERA is not stellar at all, 3.86. I usually get a 34+ Maddux in my leagues, so I'm going to enjoy having a young one for a change.

I've came to the conclusion that someone tied to OOTP is a huge Paul Molitor fan. I think I could start 30 leagues a day and everyone would feature a young Paul Molitor. This has been true with 21 and was true for 20 as well. Reggie Smith is another guy that shows up in a lot of my leagues.

Reggie Smith is an absolute ****ing beast in every league I've had him. Hoping to stick with this XX game I've got going because the young talent is cray-cray. Here are the players who were 25 or under in the just completed 1902 season (ages in parentheses). Not all are HoFers of course, but all will probably be very good ballplayers:

Mickey Mantle (18)
Catfish Hunter (20)
Freddie Lindstrom (20)
Carlos Delgado (20)
Jesse Barfield (20)
Frank Viola (21)
Stan Musial (21)
Carl Mays (21)
Greg Maddux (22)
Lance Parrish (23)
Bobby Grich (23)
Ernie Banks (23)
Javier Baez (23)
Paul Molitor (23)
Buck Ewing (23)
Andre Dawson (23)
Patrick Corbin (23)
Cody Bellinger (23)
Reggie Smith (24)
Matt Olson (24)
Dick McAuliffe (24)
Denny Lyons (24)
Kirk Gibson (24)
George Brett (24)
Bill Dinneen (24)
Al Dark (25)
Bert Campaneris (25)
George J Burns (25)

And entering in this draft, a 17 year old Willie Mays (he started at 17 in the Negro Leagues, so...). I also have a 32 year old Ty Cobb, a 33 year old Joe Cronin, a 32 year old Tom Henke, a 26 year old Addie Joss, a 27 year old Joe Torre, a 28 year old Ed Walsh, a 30 year old Mike Cameron, a 27 year old Jim Gilliam, a 37 year old Bob L Johnson, a 26 year old Jocko Milligan, a 28 year old Justin Turner, a 27 year old Robin Ventura, a 29 year old Bobby Wallace, a 30 year old John Candelaria, a 28 year old Tom Candiotti, a 26 year old John Clarkson, a 28 year old Jose Cruz Sr, a 33 year old Bid McPhee, a 31 year old Rafael Palmeiro, a 33 year old Kirby Puckett, a 29 year old Nolan Ryan, a 29 year old Reggie L Sanders, a 36 year old Warren Spahn, a 27 year old George Springer, a 32 year old Bucky Walters, a 31 year old Lon Warneke, and a 28 year old Devon White. Aside from helping Negro Leaguers, and Japanese Leaguers by using Spritze or importing earlier to match up with when they started in those leagues, I haven't messed around with deleting to bring in younger versions of players. RD rules man!

[Reed]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Reggie Smith is an absolute ****ing beast in every league I've had him. Hoping to stick with this XX game I've got going because the young talent is cray-cray. Here are the players who were 25 or under in the just completed 1902 season (ages in parentheses). Not all are HoFers of course, but all will probably be very good ballplayers:

Mickey Mantle (18)
Catfish Hunter (20)
Freddie Lindstrom (20)
Carlos Delgado (20)
Jesse Barfield (20)
Frank Viola (21)
Stan Musial (21)
Carl Mays (21)
Greg Maddux (22)
Lance Parrish (23)
Bobby Grich (23)
Ernie Banks (23)
Javier Baez (23)
Paul Molitor (23)
Buck Ewing (23)
Andre Dawson (23)
Patrick Corbin (23)
Cody Bellinger (23)
Reggie Smith (24)
Matt Olson (24)
Dick McAuliffe (24)
Denny Lyons (24)
Kirk Gibson (24)
George Brett (24)
Bill Dinneen (24)
Al Dark (25)
Bert Campaneris (25)
George J Burns (25)

And entering in this draft, a 17 year old Willie Mays (he started at 17 in the Negro Leagues, so...). I also have a 32 year old Ty Cobb, a 33 year old Joe Cronin, a 32 year old Tom Henke, a 26 year old Addie Joss, a 27 year old Joe Torre, a 28 year old Ed Walsh, a 30 year old Mike Cameron, a 27 year old Jim Gilliam, a 37 year old Bob L Johnson, a 26 year old Jocko Milligan, a 28 year old Justin Turner, a 27 year old Robin Ventura, a 29 year old Bobby Wallace, a 30 year old John Candelaria, a 28 year old Tom Candiotti, a 26 year old John Clarkson, a 28 year old Jose Cruz Sr, a 33 year old Bid McPhee, a 31 year old Rafael Palmeiro, a 33 year old Kirby Puckett, a 29 year old Nolan Ryan, a 29 year old Reggie L Sanders, a 36 year old Warren Spahn, a 27 year old George Springer, a 32 year old Bucky Walters, a 31 year old Lon Warneke, and a 28 year old Devon White. Aside from helping Negro Leaguers, and Japanese Leaguers by using Spritze or importing earlier to match up with when they started in those leagues, I haven't messed around with deleting to bring in younger versions of players. RD rules man!

Keep us posted. It will be interesting to see if they cancel each other out as far as stats are concerned. At first glance I would say several HOFers but if they cancel each other out??? Maybe just a couple?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Reed

Keep us posted. It will be interesting to see if they cancel each other out as far as stats are concerned. At first glance I would say several HOFers but if they cancel each other out??? Maybe just a couple?

It's moving at the pace of a three toed sloth, so you might be waiting a while. I'm sure there's a lot of chaff in there as well, but that's a ton of very good to great players. I wonder if there'll be an "oh sh!t the trash cans can't help me any more" effect on Springer once his numbers run out.

[David Watts]

Strange at work observation #3211. The Philadelphia Phillies are using John Rocker as a starting pitcher and it's not in anyway due to a lack of available starting pitching on their reserve roster. Usually when I see OOTP do this type of thing, I learn, oh said pitcher did start a few games that season. Not the case with Rocker. He never started a game.

[David Watts]

Not sure if this method is going to be any faster than my old method. I'm watching 5 or 6 games each schedule day in September due to close races in both leagues. Started September on Monday and I'm currently up to Sept. 11th or 12th, game 145 for most teams. The real test will come during the weekend, when I usually go into full out OOTP mode and play for hours at a time. 3 day weekend, so look out.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Strange at work observation #3211. The Philadelphia Phillies are using John Rocker as a starting pitcher and it's not in anyway due to a lack of available starting pitching on their reserve roster. Usually when I see OOTP do this type of thing, I learn, oh said pitcher did start a few games that season. Not the case with Rocker. He never started a game.

Gadzooks! Bug report, and back to OOTPXX?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Not sure if this method is going to be any faster than my old method. I'm watching 5 or 6 games each schedule day in September due to close races in both leagues. Started September on Monday and I'm currently up to Sept. 11th or 12th, game 145 for most teams. The real test will come during the weekend, when I usually go into full out OOTP mode and play for hours at a time. 3 day weekend, so look out.

WOOO!!! We had our three day weekend up here last weekend. You could cut it down to watching the best pitching matchup each day, and wading into all the boxscores after the day's games are done. Just a thought.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

WOOO!!! We had our three day weekend up here last weekend. You could cut it down to watching the best pitching matchup each day, and wading into all the boxscores after the day's games are done. Just a thought.

That's pretty much my normal pre real time sim method, but I would play out the entire season, watching a game per day. Except for the boxscore checking. Never been a huge boxscore guy. I don't even save them when I play. I've always felt it would be cool if the game created a scoresheet. A scoresheet would be so much better than the game log.

[David Watts]

Nothing like a World Series no hitter.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Nothing like a World Series no hitter.

Christenson outhit Milwaukee 4-0!